Rep. West: 'The American People are Not 'Up' For the Bureaucratic State'

Former Lt. Col. Allen West, newly elected to the U.S. Congress from Florida. (AP photo)

Washington (CNSNews.com) - In his first interview after being sworn in as a U.S. congressman, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday he would support defunding Obamacare in the manner proposed by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), by specifically prohibiting any of the money contained within appropriations bills from being used to fund Obamacare.

On Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked West, “Rep. Steve King advocates including language in every appropriations bill to prohibit money from that bill funding implementation of Obamacare. Do you support defunding Obamacare that way?"

West, a retired military officer and Tea Party-backed candidate, said, “The thing is that this [Obamacare] is not helping us as far as the job situation, as far as our overall health-care situation -- doctors are against it, small business owners are against it So if we can't get it through the right way with the repeal vote, then we have to look at how we can just not allow this to continue on, and I think that -- at a time when we need to cut our spending -- I think that, looking at the creation of 159 more government agencies and bureaucracies, the American people are not ‘up’ for the bureaucratic state. I think its a good idea, absolutely.”

With the expected House repeal of President Obama’s health-care legislation facing an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate, many Republican House members are open to King’s proposal as a way of stopping the legislation from taking effect.

Congressional Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and President Barack Obama signed it into law in March 2010.

In a Jan. 3, 2011, interview with CNSNews.com’s Editor-in-Chief Terry Jeffrey, King said that House Republicans should include language that prohibits any funding for implementation of Obamacare in every appropriations bill that passes this year, and thus force a showdown on the issue with the Democratic-majority Senate and the president.

“Somebody’s going to blink,” King said in the interview. “It’ll be President Obama or it’ll be House Republicans.”

“If House Republicans refuse to blink, we will succeed,” he said. “Obamacare will never become the effective law of the land and we’ll be able to leave a legacy of liberty for the future generations.”

Under King’s plan, congressional Republicans would first force a straight up-or-down vote on repealing Obamacare in the House and Senate. They would then follow that by inserting language into all appropriations bills that says no money from the bill(s) can be used to implement the federal health care program.

King told CNSNews.com: “So, my proposal is this then: Each appropriations bill that comes through, we need to put language in it that prohibits any of the dollars that are appropriated in those funds – and I would add to that any funds heretofore appropriated – from being used to implement or enforce Obamacare.”